Recently, various analysis is performed for organs of the human being, especially a heart. More specifically, the blood is ejected toward the entire body by the heart muscle that contracts in response to electrical signals, and the numerical analysis (i.e. simulation) for reproducing this phenomenon of the heart is performed. Then, the behavior of the heart muscle, which is obtained as results of the numerical analysis, is displayed by using a technique of the three-dimensional computer graphics (CG).
On the other hand, in the medical site, by using medical measurement apparatus such as ultrasonic echo apparatus, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus, Computed Tomography (CT) scan apparatus and the like, information of organs such as the cross section of the heart muscle is measured. The information of the cross section of the heart muscle is two-dimensional data, typically.
Both of them express the behavior of the heart muscle, there are demands to compare the results of both of them. However, because data formats of both of them are different, it is possible to display both of them left and right, however, it is not easy to display a state in which both of them are disposed at appropriate positions so as to superimpose them in accordance with the time course. In other words, it is not easy to superimpose them only by putting the origins of them together and scaling.
In addition, element shapes, by which the space is divided, are different each other. In other words, the medical data is represented by the voxel data, and the shape data used in the simulation is represented by a set of tetrahedral elements. In such a case, it is possible to put the outer shapes of the hearts together and cause one heart to be penetrated by the CG technique. However, because the observation is performed for the voxel data in the conventional medical service, it may be preferable that the distribution of physical values can be observed by displaying the well-known voxel data.
Non-Patent Document 1: Yoko Eto, et. al., “Automated Mitral Annular Tracking: A Novel Method for Evaluating Mitral Annular Motion Using Two-dimensional Echocardiography”, Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, pp. 306-312, Volume 18 Number 4, (2005)